Wednesday’s session in the S&P 500 index futures set the stage for tariff (liberation) day, with bulls and bears trading blows, though the bulls edged out a win by the close. 

Overnight, bears pressed consistently, nudging the index futures toward 5600. Before the open, bulls found a foothold at 5610, then blasted off once the regular session kicked in. Buyers piled in, driving the index past Tuesday’s high and deeper into the 5700s. Bears fought back in the afternoon, dragging it below that psychological 5700 mark. Undeterred, bulls lifted the ask in the final half hour, wrapping the session above the day’s midpoint at 5712.25, up 37.75 handles. 

After hours, the rally peaked at 5773.25, until Trump dropped tariff details: 25% on autos, reciprocal rates at half the foreign rate (e.g., 34% on China), among others. That news triggered a brutal after-hours plunge, hitting a new Wednesday low of 5566.25. Traders and investors now can use Thursday’s session to chew on the fallout, along with February’s trade deficit data due at 8:30 AM ET.

For the second day running, Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) topped the index’s biggest gainers. The EV maker tacked on $14.30, or 5.33%, closing at $282.76. 

That surge outpaced the cash index’s 0.63% gain by over eight times.

Meanwhile, Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ: META) slumped as the day’s biggest loser among top components. The tech conglomerate dipped $2.07, or 0.35%, to close at $583.93.